The convention this year will be even more extraordinary than last. We have some very cool surprises in store for our fellow fans and we remain grateful to our friends at Summit for allowing us the opportunity to bring this highly unprecedented event for all to enjoy. We are VERY happy to welcome director of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2Bill Condon and the very talented screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg who has written all the screenplays for the Saga. Both of these new stars will appear on Saturday bringing our Twilight celebrity attendance up to a record breaking 18 stars including the highly anticipated appearance of Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner as well as The Cullen Family!

Gary Berman, co-CEO of Creation Entertainment, producing this weekend’s event with Summit Entertainment, stated that the response to the convention has been nothing short of extraordinary. “We are so pleased to join with our friends at Summit to deliver what we think will be an amazingly fun weekend for all Twilight fans that have been so very supportive of the productions from the very start. We can’t wait until the Northern American movie release date of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1November 18 but the convention will help keep us going until then and we have some very cool surprises at the event to share too!”

Berman also stated that it was important to the production team for the convention to bring the weekend’s festivities to one of Hollywood’s legendary hotels and meeting spaces. The Hyatt Regency Century Plaza is absolutely the correct historic meeting place and the Twilight Saga has made film and fan history deserving of such a prestigious location.

There are a variety of companies that are offering fan conventions, one day meet and greets, etc. involving the stars of the Twilight Saga movies. Just a few are listed below. People frequently email or tweet and ask if we could make a recommendation, and we really can’t because we have an obvious bias as we appear at various events. The best thing we can tell you is read the fine print so that you know exactly what you are getting for your money. What you want out of a convention may be different than what a friend or colleague wants. Read the details to see which tour best meets your needs and expectations, and how much it will cost to meet those needs. If all you want is to see a Q&A you can probably do that for around $25 on a day pass, but if you want photos, autographs, dances…the price goes up and every group is different regarding what you get for your money. Here is a post we wrote over a year ago, before we went to any convention, talking about what to look for in a convention.

The other great thing to do when deciding if a particular con is for you, is to go by word-of-mouth. Frequently the best advice that you can get is from people who have attended a particular group’s events before. Sure any given person can have a bad experience at any event, but try to get a variety of opinion. Check around message boards that you frequent, Google is your friend!, there’s also the Twilight Adviser review site.

This group kicks off in January with stops in Miami, Seattle, and Nashville and has at least 20 stops announced in various locations including Hawaii for 2010. According to their site,

“Once in many moons a new genre craze begins and so it is for TWILIGHT, the epic series of books and smash hit feature film (with sequels to follow)…

With fantastic guest stars from the film, wonderful programming, panels and events, themed parties, autographs and photo ops, live musical performances and more: make your plans now to join the celebration! Creation Entertainment has presented over 2,000 conventions for our fellow fans since 1971: come and experience a fantastic weekend you’ll never forget! … Check out our “customer feedback” section for comments from past Twi/Tour attendees: everyone is having a GREAT time! Creation Rocks for Twilight Fans and with New Moon… there is going to be even more to celebrate: including meeting the new stars of the film, especially the “Wolf Pack” guys!”

This group kicks of their 2010 season ins 2009, this coming weekend in Miami. They then have stops in Baltimore and Norfolk in February with roughly 10 planned for 2010. According to the site:

“At the Fantasy Twi-Life Tour, every attendee with a weekend pass will get to see and hear each of the Twilight Stars at the show for one-hour Q&A session. In addition to this, there are panels, museums and musical events open to all attendees with a weekend pass.

Additional tickets can be purchased that give you up & close access to celebrities. The Twilight Stars will meet and mingle with the fans at the cocktail party, the dinner banquet, the prom and the breakfast. In addition to these events, you can get some one-on-one time with the stars if you purchase an autograph ticket or a professional photo op with the stars.

To buy your tickets, you will need to decide how you want to spend the weekend. Who do you want your photo with? Whose autograph do you want? What kinds of events do you want to attend? All of the events are limited and designed to give you access to the Twilight Stars. Get your tickets before they sell out! If you want to do it all, there is a VIP package for that too!”

This group has a number of upcoming projects, most notably Vampire Baseball games in Salt Lake City and New Orleans. Part of the proceeds go to local charities. They also have a vampire film cruise. According to their site:

“Join cast from Twilight and New Moon, along with other great Louisiana celebrities as they take to the field to play Vampire Baseball™ in a benefit for the 9th Ward Field of Dreams! and the Special Olympics of Utah”

New Orleans: “Fan Trips™ Travel will be partnering with the 9th Ward Field of Dreams for Vampire Baseball™ in New Orleans. Up to 50% of net proceeds from each Vampire Baseball™ ticket sale will go towards the 9th Ward Field of Dream’s goal to rebuild the 1,000-seat football stadium at G.W. Carver Senior High School, which was crushed under 10 feet of floodwater during Hurricane Katrina four years ago.”